Hey guys, I wanted to let you all know what happened to me last night... It was a really scary experience so I wanted to get some closure on it. Here goes:

I had FINALLY managed to get to sleep after about 4 hours of trying to, but I was in this dark dream (seems to be my room). Someone was telling me I should open my eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut and it was really hard to open them, so I pushed really hard but my eyes opened in real life. My eyes opened to the bottom of my bed and my door, unable to move and to a VERY loud screetch in my ear, along with there being a TON of pressure on the brain region. It felt like an amplifier was inside my head, because there was so much noise. The noise in my head quietened down after about 15 seconds, then I started hearing my parents coming out of their room across the hall and purposely banging really loud across the landing area. Quickly after this I heard whispers behind me, and at this point as you can imagine I was petrified so I started telling myself I was dreaming. I was thinking "I'm dreaming I'm dreaming" and then the brain noise amplified again - It was SO loud and there was so much pressure I literally felt like someone was just squeezing my brain. I tried to start speaking but all that happened was breath. I kept trying to speak for about 10 seconds and then I suddenly could talk again, the noise etc. went away and I had full control over my body. I was awake.

Could someone please help me on this. What caused it? Why the whispers? I really hope something like this doesn't happen often.

I've heard banging on the door, footsteps, voices in my ear and sometimes an incredibly loud explosion in my head before. Exploding Head Syndrome is an actual disorder, but perfectly natural if it happens from time to time when trying to WILD and nothing to worry about. (I don't know if you were trying to WILD but trying to sleep for 4 hours sounds like it would trigger a form of lucid sleep paralysis nightmare). I mean we all do it naturally and slip into muscle atonia, but seldom are aware during it, so I call it Lucid Sleep Paralysis Nightmare. I've had plenty of innocuous lucid muscle atonia that was not a nightmare at all, so Sleep Paralysis isn't always scary. Sometimes it can catch me off guard, and it's unnerving, but I only get that about once a year, so it's not that common for me, and it shouldn't deter you from lucid dreaming. I've never felt pressure on my head before, but we all experience the hallucinations differently and not only from person to person, but even each time is slightly unique for me and no two are exactly the same. It can certainly be quite frightening to the uninitiated, but you will grow with experience and overcome the fear, and hey, at least now you can say, "I've been there and done that!"

You were in between a sleep and wake state and that is why you had all this going on, it was just dream experiences coming in. As Hagart said there is also exploding head syndrome which can really shock a person (extremely loud, sudden explosion which happens inside the head), I've only had that once but it is unsettling.

Next time try not to be so fearful. You missed a good chance to have a nice LD.. you could of thought yourself somewhere else.

Sleep paralysis is simply a sign that your body is not moving smoothly through the stages of sleep. Rarely is sleep paralysis linked to deep underlying psychiatric problems.Other things that increase your risk of getting sleep paralysis are as follows:Irregular sleep pattern.Age group Sleep deprivation.